Appeals of Durand v. Reynolds

CARMODY, Chief Justice.

Applicants-appellees, successors to certain adjudicated water rights in the Nine-Mile Draw area of Chaves County, New Mexico, filed an application with the state engineer “TO SUPPLEMENT SURFACE WATER WITH SHALLOW GROUND WATER AND/OR TO CHANGE PARTIAL POINT OF DIVERSION FROM SURFACE TO SHALLOW GROUND WATER.” The source of applicants’ water right in the Nine-Mile Draw area is springs fed by seepage from a shallow ground water acquifer of the Roswell Artesian Basin, and flood waters in Nine-Mile Draw and Zuber Hollow composed of surface runoffs caused by precipitation. The…